The Narnia 3 Blog

Juan Pierre: The Saga Continues

I heard Charlie Steiner on ESPN today talking about the Dodgers and he was asked about the outfield situation with Juan Pierre. Now remember, Steiner is an employee of the Dodgers and is not about to create any kind of media controversy with his answers. He reported that manager Joe Torre still does not know what he is going to do with the outfield. The ESPN reporter then stated that it had been reported that Juan Pierre was not happy with his status and asked if this could a problem for the Dodgers' team harmony, Steiner said he hadn't heard anything like that (which is about what you would have expected him to say).

Well, as of today here are the spring stats of the five outfielders with a realistic chance of making the 25 man roster. According to all of the reports so far, the Dodgers will only start the season with four.

• Andruw Jones (who is obviously the only lock at this point in center field): .404 .512 .244 with three home runs.
• Matt Kemp (probably the next thing to a lock): .345 .625 .339 with three home runs.
• Andre Ethier (who again, is oddly up in the air): .459 .623 .344 with five home runs.
• Jason Repko (who looks like the odd man out at this point): .455 .571 .343 and two home runs.
• Juan Pierre (who seems anchored only by his stupid contract): .253 .232 .188 and no home runs (in fact of his 13 hits, 10 are singles and 3 are doubles).

Now, it's not like Pierre isn't getting a chance. He has the most at bats of anyone and the lowest OBP of any Dodger with 20 or more at bats. Also, his OPS is only .485 (Ethier is 1.082; Kemp is .970; Jones is .916; and Repko is 1.026).

If Torre really hasn't made a decision, I'm not sure what could possibly be holding it up. If it is purely a baseball and what is best for this team, there is no real decision here. At worst Pierre is a fourth outfielder and Repko has to start the season in AAA; at best Repko is on the 25 man roster and Pierre is traded or DFA.

The other outfield issue is that Delwyn Young (.288 .204 .143 with one home run), a talented hitter but one who lacks a position, is out of options; while Repko (who has taken the last couple of days off with a sore quad) does have an option left. So unless the Dodgers are going to trade Young or are willing to just let him go, they will need to make room on the 25 man roster for him. Who is the least helpful to the Dodgers between Young and Pierre is really a coin toss. Neither can field at all; Young looks like he can hit with some average and power, but is certainly not superior to Jones, Kemp, Ethier or Repko. And we've already described Pierre's uselessness previously.

It also looks like Jeff Kent and Nomar Garciaparra will start the season on the DL (neither of which is a great loss). Frankly, if the Dodgers could trade Kent, Normar, and Pierre for a bag of peanuts, there would probably be universal rejoicing amongst Dodger fans.